John Dos Passos,
the illegitimate son of a prominent American attorney, John Randolph Dos
Dos Passos Jr., was born in Chicago in 1896. His mother was Lucy Addison Sprigg
Madison. He spent his early years traveling semi-clandestinely about the United
States and abroad with his mother. It was to these unusual circumstances of his birth
and childhood that he would later attribute his lifelong sense of rootlessness.
Eventually the family settled in Virginia. His father paid for his education
and he was sent to The Choate School in Wallingford, Connecticut in 1907. He also
traveled with a private tutor on a six-month tour of France, England, Italy, Greece,
and the Middle East to study classical art, architecture, and literature.
John Randolph Dos Passos Jr., married Lucy Addison Sprigg Madison in
1910. In 1912 he attended Harvard University. Dos Passos was keen to take part in the First World War and in
July 1917 he joined the Norton-Harjes Ambulance Corps. Over the next few months he worked as a driver in
France and Italy.
Afterwards drew upon these experiences in his novels, One Man's Initiation (1920) and Three Soldiers
(1921). This established the "pre-dominant anti-war and semi-anarchist themes of his radical period." In 1922
Dos Passos published a collection of essays, Rosinante to the Road Again, and a volume of poems, A Pushcart
at the Curb However, his literary reputation was established with his well-received novel Manhattan Transfer
(1925).
Dos Passos traveled to Harland County with a Communist-initiated delegation to investigate the
condition of striking miners. While in Kentucky he was arrested and charged with "criminal syndicalism". In
the 1932 Presidential Election he publicly endorsed William Z. Foster, the American Communist Party
candidate.
The 1930s saw the publication of his USA trilogy: The 42nd Parallel (1930), 1919 (1932) and The Big
Money (1936). Dos Passos developed the experimental literary device where the narratives intersect and
continue from one novel to the next. The USA trilogy also included what became known as newsreels
(impressionistic collections of slogans, popular song lyrics, newspaper headlines and extracts from political
speeches).
Dos Passos was active in the campaign against the growth of fascism in Europe. He joined other
literary figures such as Dashiell Hammett, Clifford Odets, Lillian Hellman and Ernest Hemingway in
supporting the Republicans during the Spanish Civil War.
Dos Passos was disillusioned by what he saw in Spain and in 1938 he commented: "I have come to
think, especially since my trip to Spain, that civil liberties must be protected at every stage. In Spain I am sure
that the introduction of GPU methods by the Communists did as much harm as their tank men, pilots and
experienced military men did good. The trouble with an all powerful secret police in the hands of fanatics, or of
anybody, is that once it gets started there's no stopping it until it has corrupted the whole body politic. I am
afraid that's what's happening in Russia."
His new political views were reflected in his novels, The Adventures of a Young Man (1939) and
Number One (1943). He now moved steadily to the right, becoming an associate of The National Review and
the Young Americans for Freedom. He also campaigned for Barry Goldwater and Richard Nixon.
John Dos Passos died in Baltimore, Maryland, on 28th September, 1970.